Cleaner wins 14-year case against former employer Farmland Aviation
A cleaner has won a 14-year case in which he sued an aviation company for negligence after he was blinded by chemicals. Isaac Njuguna sued Farmland Aviation in 2007 for compensation after the chemicals also caused him a rare skin condition called Stephen Johnson Syndrome, which saw his dermis and epidermis separated.
Court of Appeal judges Philip Waki, Roselyn Nambuye and Patrick Kiage found conclusions reached by Justice David Maraga, who was a High Court judge at the time, that the applicant had not proved negligence were erroneous
Mr Maraga’s judgement said Njuguna, who had worked for the firm for only one year when his problems began in 2004, did not prove his case. Njuguna’s skin peeled off and his toe and finger nails disappeared. A medical report by a Dr Owen Ogony dated April 27, 2006, detailed the effects of the chemicals the cleaner was exposed to. “He had lost finger and toe nails. His left eye was blind while there was poor vision in the left,” read the report. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001274051/cleaner-wins-14-year-case-against-former-employer-farmland-aviation
Nothing here but independence of the judiciary at work. The same court, sitting in Malindi during Mutunga’s time quashed some notice which he had caused to be published in the Kenya Gazette for being unconstitutional and illegal.
Sure it is, the key point here has been missed. Justice delayed is justice denied more so when it is due to grave judicial error.
You go blind, your skin peels, an expert opinion is presented as evidence and a judge tells you have not proven your case! The man has lost 14 years of his now greatly shortened life expectancy because of a judge’s erroneous ruling. Can the court of appeal give him back those 14 years? His ordeal is not about to end just yet, his case has been remanded back to the Nakuru High Court.That is not the same as simply quashing a gazette notice in a timely matter.
Controversy is not new when it comes to Maraga’s track record as a high court judge in Nakuru where he had over 12 complaints against him by LSK members. It gains significant relevance when the judge in question is the current Chief Justice. Can he be trusted to issue accurate and just rulings or is he prone to making errors?
Perhaps Apollo Mboya was right after all in taking action, this was however before he diluted his mind with partisan politics and the petition disappeared into the JSC managed blackhole. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIt2fHMXkAEcCOr.jpg
Dude, you make it seem as if Maraga deliberately rendered a wrongful decision.
At the centre of the principle of judicial independence is the freedom of judicial thought [of course anchored in law] and room for error. That is why the appellate system exists.- to correct any errors. Now, is it expensive and inconveniencing? Hell yes! But that is the system as it exists.
Your point is understood. The context is that he had a litany of prior complaints made against him while he was at the High Court in Nakuru. With time we shall know if those complainants will continue to be vindicated if more such rulings emerge.
Judicial errors point to professional competency, not deliberate actions, although in some cases, some judges do so deliberately. To err is human, to repeatedly err is questionable. It is noteworthy in the 2012 complaints, Maraga was accused of ignoring evidence. Did he disregard or ignore clear cut evidence in this case from two different doctors? The findings of the CA seem to suggest that he failed to consider the evidence. I am sure that you are not advocating that judges are naturally prone to errors and that that is acceptable.
The CJ after all is supposed to be the “best” judge in the country, he is held to a higher standard than any other judge and his decisions current and prior will deservedly have extra scrutiny and examination. Kenya ails from many things, spirited opposition and resistance to any form of accountability is something that needs to change if the “system” is to be improved.